Letting go (idea)

There is a story of two celibateJapanesemonks on a journey. In their Order, they were forbidden to even do so much as touch a woman. They reached a swollen creek, and there was a young woman there. She was distressed because she could not cross with the water so high.

The younger of the two monks just looked away and prepared to cross the creek. As he stepped in the water, he looked back and saw the older monk pick the woman up and proceed to carry her across. On the other side, the older monk put the woman down and bowed to her as he left her there.

The two monks walked in silence for quite some time. However, the younger monk could not keep it in. He finally said, "How could you do that? You know that we are directly forbidden to touch a woman!"

The older monk stopped walking, looked at him and said, "I put her down way back there. Why are you still carrying her?"